The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-05-06
Genius and sensisiveness.

Every man of genius feels ut times
a sense of loneliness more or less. 1t
caused Byron much misery; John Stu
art Mill suffered from it for years; and
Dickens. when near the end, complain
ed that he had missed someone he
had never seen. The ideal of such
men is seldom realized. Unknown to
themselves they create a creature in
their heart and brain whom they eager
| ly seek in flesh and blood, and too often
in vain. 1t does not fOllow-indeed, it
seldom happens-that the ideal con-
ception of the man of genius is q per-
feet creature, or one like unto himself,
but generally of a contrary nature and
possessing the very qualities most
wanting in him.
Some few have found this ideal, and
always in the form of a woman; others
have found her only to lose her, like
Walter Scott and Byron; not few
have found her in the wife of another
man, like Petrarch and Sterne; others
have fondly imagined that they have
found her, but, too late, have discover
ed their mistake. These last are they
whose married lives have proved fail
| ures. The wives of men of genius sep
arated from their husbands are o long
and fearful list. Who is to blame?
Certainly not the wives, for they are
human and very feminine; and as for
| their husbands, they are more than hui
| man; so let not us men sit in Judgment
upon them.
Byron had all the restlessness and
contempt for the world peculiar to
Burns. Their natures were much alike.
! The peer and the peasant unite in the
/ temperament of the poet. Byron was
very near being the most unfortunate
man who ever lived. He endured the
misery of deformity, of disappointed
love, of calumny, and of genius. He
| only wanted Burns poverty to make
him the most unhappy man ever born.
! Any one of these mistoTtunes would be
as much as an ordinary being could
well bear; but when we think of them
centcred in one man, and OF the pain
! full sensitiveness of genius to such in
| fuences, we wonder that Byron was so
good a man that he was.
! With men of genius, sensitiYeness is
perfect disease; indeed, it is this very
quality which enables them to feel and
express those emotions which escape
other men. Scnsitiveness is an limo.
cent and amiable self-love, and must
not be COMPOUNDED with selfishness. A
selfish man is sensitive, but only for
| himself; but a sensitive man has much
sympathy for others. The two quail
ties always 90 together, and are large
Iy developed in women and men of
genius. Many women have as much
sympathy us men of genius, but they
exercise it with greater strictness and
partiality. Thus women have little or
no sympathy for evil doors; men of ge-
MUS frequently have.
Speaking of calumny, it is thing to
which man of genius is particularly
liable, especially an unknown man. Peo-
pie see that he is often unhappy, and
uncertain and strange in his humor and
ways-in short, he is different from
themselves; and, not knowing the
cause, they are so kind as to invent
one, always taking great care that it
shall be to the mans discredit. Said
Bulwer Lytton, with tears in his eyes,
''Men calumniate me, yet would die
to serve them" The fact is we love to
see each other come and fall down
heavily. Chicago Eye.